Freedom Denied
by crazylittleauthors
Summary: This time, A had taken it too far. 10 years and 9 kids later, the liars are still trapped in the dollhouse. But can Ella, Kathryn, Shantel, Zoey, Tabitha, Ruth, Ava, Carmen and Elizabeth be the key to their escape?
1. Chapter 1

Elizabeth POV

I looked down the empty hallway and internally groaned. Every path looked identical. I was lost again. I hated being lost in here, anything could happen. This morning I had managed to sneak out of my room in hope of finding the "vault". Not that I knew much about it. Tabby had said that it wasn't hard to find but I had a rubbish sense of direction. It had only taken Tabby 20 minutes to get there and back. Turning the corner, I bumped into something solid. My first thought was A but then I looked up. Great. Mom.

"Beth, what are you doing?" she whispered

"Looking for treasure!" I replied. I didn't like to lie but to be honest, 90% of the time it produced a better response than telling the truth. Besides, Tabby didn't want the adults to know about the "vault".

"Look Beth, you can't leave our room during the day. I need to know where you are. Carmen manages to stay put and entertain herself." Mom had learnt early on that it was no use trying to get the truth out of me. It was hopeless!

I followed her back to the room and took one look back at the hallway. Us girls didn't normally venture out, unless it was to go to each others rooms. Every day our moms had to leave us behind to "keep us safe" but we could visit each other, if when the alarm went off we stopped playing and went back to our rooms.

I saw my twin Carmen sitting on Mom's bed, drawing in her notebook. We had a notebook each, and a pencil. Apart from that, we had to make our own entertainment.

"Beth, you missed your favourite game. Ava won again but it was still fun. I beat Ruth though!" giggled Carmen.

Great. I'd gotten caught exploring and missed out on playing Irish Snap. Tabby had found a pack of cards and begged Aunty Hanna to teach her to play. We had drawn up a leader board last year and played every week. Ava was the best at it. Ruth would be great, but she always ended up losing focus and having to pick up. Despite her interest in cars, Tabby wasn't great either. But that might be something to do with her only being six...

At that moment the bell chimed and a paper bag fell through the flap in the door. Mom picked it up and gave me and Carmen our dinner before opening the bottle of water and passing it round. I took a few sips and then passed it to Carmen who gulped it down greedily before Mom gave her a stern look and she stopped. Meals were always the same around here. Two small slices of bread without butter, a square of cheese and a slice of apple. It wasn't much, but at the end of the day, it was all we had. On our birthdays, we would be given an extra slice of bread with jam and a packet of raisins instead of the apple.

"Girls, get into bed quickly please" called Mom from the other side of the room. She had a box in her hand with a note. I noticed her go pale when she read the note, looked at Carmen, and we scrambled into bed.

Up to two years ago, we hadn't realized that this place was dangerous. Sure, "A" was scary but nothing had ever happened to us. Ever. Then Auntie Emily hadn't got to her room in time and the next day, Zoey was missing. It had taken three weeks to get her back and in that time we realized that we needed to get out of here.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up to find Mom gone. I saw the darkness and knew that it was still night-time. Turning over, I saw a sleeping Elizabeth sprawled over her third of the bed. Silently I jumped out of bed and crept over to the door. I could hear whispers from outside and then a shout from Auntie Hanna

"Guys we need to go NOW!"

I scrambled back into bed as Mom walked through the door. I tried pretending to be asleep, but I was a rubbish liar. Not like Elizabeth.

"Carmen, I know you're awake."

I sighed, and sat up.

"I don't like it when you leave us here"

"I know sweetie but it's not safe for you to leave this room at night. Or listen in to our conversations."

"Fine"

"Look Carmen, you and Beth need to stay here tomorrow. I don't want either of you leaving this room."

"Why not?"

"Just because. Now go back to sleep."

"Okay, night mom"

"Night Carmen."

I snuggled up next to her until I fell asleep.

The next morning I awoke just in time for breakfast. Cold toast and water. Sitting up and brushing my hair out of my face, I looked for Beth and saw her sitting on the floor, working hard at something.

"What you up to?" I asked, wondering if it was anything I could help her with, seeing as we were stuck in here all day.

"Writing a list"

"Of what?" I was curious and slightly concerned. Last time her 'list' had been ways to find the source of our food so we could get extra jam. That had not turned out well.

"All the ways I could think of to sneak in to Shantel's room."

Great. Another Elizabeth plan. I left her to it and grabbed my notepad from the floor and began to draw. I loved drawing, normally, my pictures were of me and the other girls but today I decided to draw our room. It wasn't a great drawing, but my speciality was people so I added Beth into the picture. Then I heard the siren wail and scrambled under the bed, hands over my ears to block out the noise.

What did we ever do to deserve this? Why did we have to listen this day and night, sometimes for hours nonstop? But most of all, I knew that there must be other people in the world, so why couldn't we be with them? Or was everyone kept like this, in rooms with their family, all alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Ava's POV:

We had been stuck in our rooms for about a week I think when I decided to ask about the photo. It hadn't always been on the shelf, it had turned up after my last game of cards with the others. I missed them when we weren't allowed to see each other. But it got easier the more times it happened.

The photo in question was of Mom, and a pretty girl with long blonde hair that looked a bit like Tabby's, but nicer. Her hair was glossy, and neat whereas Tabby's hair, like the rest of ours, was dirty, messy and tangled. Their eyes were also kind of the same shape. They were sitting in some sort of forest, on a dirty old rock.

Normally I would ask Kathryn for help with something like this, but that wasn't really an option seeing as we were stuck in this room. I bent back over my book and continued to work. Last year, my Mom had decided that I needed to do what she called 'schoolwork' and I was reasonable good at it. Noticing that she had put her book down, I decided that the best way to go about this was to get it over and done with.

"Mom, who is the other girl in the photo? Where are you? When was it taken?"

"Ava, I thought we talked about asking questions? When you're 10, you can ask me anything and I will tell you whatever you want to know."

"Please just tell me who she is. She looks a bit like Tabby and…"

"Tabby? Why would you say that?"

"They have the same hair but that girl's is prettier and they kind of have the same eye shape."

"Ava, that's just a coincidence. I can tell you now that she has no connection to Tabby."

"I wasn't saying she did I just wanted to know who she is."

"Not now Ava, it's late so go to bed."

I climbed into the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Why wasn't I allowed to know anything? What didn't make any sense at all is that the more I looked at that picture, the more I could see the resemblance to Tabby. Almost like they were sisters or something…

Hang on a minute;

"Mom, does that girl have a brother?"

"Look, Ava just go to sleep."

"Please, just this one question."

"Fine. Yes she does, she has an older brother."

We lay there in silence for a while. As I tried to put the pieces together. Was it, could it be possible that this 'brother' was Tabby's dad? And if it was, where was he now?


	4. Chapter 4

Ruth's POV

"1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5 … 6 … 7 …" I chanted aloud, as I placed my raisins on the floor in a perfectly straight line. Today was my ninth birthday and as usual I wasn't going anywhere.

"16 … 17 … 18 … 19 …" There had to be one more raisin, I needed exactly 20 raisins or something was going to happen to Mom, or my friends.

"Mom, I need another raisin"

"Ruth, you don't need twenty, eat one then you'll still have an even number."

"The other girls get 20 but it's always 19 for me"

"Next time someone gets raisins I'll ask them to give you one to keep for next time, deal?"

I nodded and placed the raisins one at a time back into the box, laying it at a right angle to the bed, checking it with the corner of my notebook.

"Mom, when are you going to leave again?"

"I don't know Ruth"

We sat there in silence for a while, until I felt the need to drum my fingers on the wooden bed frame, what I always did when I was scared or nervous. Mom heard what I was doing and pulled me into a hug. Normally I would pull away but today I needed the reassurance. Yesterday I hadn't straightened the bad covers because I didn't feel well and wanted to stay in bed. Now I knew that something bad was going to happen.

I'd always wondered why I was the only one who felt like this, the other girls wouldn't care about 19 raisins or wonky duvet but it was important to me. I needed to know why I was different.

Hearing the voice over the speakers I ducked under the bed counting to stay calm

"1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5 … 6 … 7 … 8 … 9 … 10 … 11 … 12 … 14 …"

It was silent, Mom was gone. And I was stuck down in this room, trapped here. I kicked the door in frustration and was shocked to see it swing open.

Walking out into the hallway, I saw the others staring at me.

"What's going to happen now?" asked Zoe, the fear evident in her eyes as she stared at me. And I could only shake my head in response, not wanting to know what was going to happen.


	5. Chapter 5

Tabitha's POV

Wait here. That's what Zoey said. To wait here for them to get back. That was easy enough. I think. What was that? I thought. Never mind.

I didn't usually care about being alone in this place, I hadn't for the last 6 years. But today was different. On most of the days I could run back to my room and hide under the bed until whatever it was that had scared me was long gone. But our room's didn't seem to be safe anymore, so I was crouched behind the piano in the living room. Waiting.

"Tabby are you there?" I heard Carmen whisper as she came into the room.

"Yes I am." I replied, hoping that they had found Mom.

Carmen came round the corner, eyes wide and fearful, a strange man with a blue jacket standing behind her. H was staring at me in surprise as I retreated behind the piano. Who was this person? Why were they here? I Let out a scream as a voice came from the black box on in his hand and was even more frightened when he talked back.

"Yes I've found her. Just two more of them to round up and then we'll be out of here." He said.

"No, bring out the two you have and we will send another officer in for the others."

"On my way."

He gently took hold of my arm, and I reluctantly followed behind him. Not that I really had any choice. At 6 years old, I was a lot smaller than this scary man and I knew there was no point struggling.

We came to the end of a corridor I had never seen before. A blinding light was coming from the end of it and I could hear voices from the other side. One stood out among all of the others and before the man could stop me I was sprinting towards the light towards the voice.

But when I reached it I stopped. There was noise everywhere and people moving in different directions as far as I could see. I was looking for Mom, I had heard her voice and knew that she must be out here somewhere.

Then I caught sight of her, sitting on the back of this box-thing with another woman and a man in a dirty grey hoodie. Zoey was sat on her lap, snuggled into the blanket that had been wrapped around her.

"TABBY!" She cried out and, pushing my older sister onto the other woman's lap, she ran towards me, scooping me up into a hug. The man from earlier passed me a blanket and I joined Zoey in a group hug. But there were two people missing. I could tell by the way Kathryn was crying that the two missing girls were Ella and Shantel. Where were they? How come they didn't get out as well. I needed them, we all needed to stick together. Or who knew what would happen next.


	6. Chapter 6

Zoey's POV

We had been sat in this office for hours now. Why weren't they letting us be with our moms? Since Kathryn told the police that she had two more sisters, she had been carted out of the room and we had been questioned over and over again. I was beginning to think we would never get out of here.

"Ruth Paige Hastings can you come with us please." She leaped off the chair as if it had burned her and walked towards the door. I knew why they wanted her. Ruth hadn't spoken since we arrived here, and she had twisted her black wristband round and round her finger so much that blood had dripped onto the grey carpet. The policeman supervising us hadn't even blinked. I couldn't remember his name, something that began with a T…

"Zoey Estelle Marin. Your turn"

What the heck did they want me for? I'd done nothing wrong, had I?

"Alright Zoey I need you to answer the following questions for me. How many of you kids were there?"

"Nine"

"And what are the names of the two missing girls?"

"Ella and Shantel Vanderwaal"

"How old were they?"

"Ella's 10 and Shan's 7"

"When did you last see them?"

"Before the siren went off – we were playing snap. Shan lost and walked out. Ella followed her."

"Thank you Zoey, you can go wait with your family now."

I walked down the hallway and into a room with tons of people piled on to five sofas. I jumped onto my mom's lap and glanced at the woman sat next to her.

"Hey Zoey, I'm your grandma" But I didn't have the energy to respond, closing my eyes and falling into darkness.


End file.
